The present invention relates to a medical device designed to grip and position an endotracheal tube which has been placed, either orally or nasally, into the trachea of a patient for the purpose of conveying gas to the lungs of the patient. Once the tube is correctly positioned within the patient, it is important that the tube be retained in its specified position against forces such as those occurring as a result of patient swallowing and muscular reflexes without need for removal or repositioning. The most conventional past practice for securing an endotracheal tube in a desired position is to wrap the tube with adhesive tape and secure the tape to the patient's jaws and cheeks. This manner of securing the endotracheal tube in position is quite undesirable and usually impractical, creating a large amount of patient discomfort.
Recognizing the insufficiencies of taping, there have been proposed in the prior art many varieties of endotracheal tube holders all intended to improve upon the commonplace use of tape. However, such devices have many times introduced other disadvantages and impracticalities. For instance, many of the tube holders create discomfort to the patient due to a lack of flexibility, create potentials for occlusions of the tube, and provide difficulty in adjusting and repositioning the tube as well as in maintaining a secure grip upon the tube since the tubes can be provided in a variety of diameters. Examples of such prior art are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,249,529, 4,351,331,4,774,944, and 5,069,206.
Many commercial endotracheal tube holders also encounter problems when loading and unloading the tube. If the tube must be slid through the holder, difficulties arise due to adaptors which may need to be removed, as well as the need to slide the holder onto the tube from an unobstructed end of the tube. Many times these seemingly simple adaptions of the tube to the holder create complexities and time delays that are undesirable during medical treatment.